


The Insufferable Arthur Pendragon

by poetofstarlight



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Aquarium!Au, Established Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, also! i was legally obligated to have merlin work with the otters okay it just had to be that way, but not rly, gwen works with arthur in the gift shop, just idiots being flirty, just rly cute and fluffy, lancelot is a barista in the aquarium cafe and definitely not paid enough, like kinda? - Freeform, needless to say she is also not paid nearly enough, oh did i mention its rly fluffy, this sounds like crack but its not, uther owns an aquarium which i personally find hilarious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:07:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27851374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poetofstarlight/pseuds/poetofstarlight
Summary: Merlin works at an aquarium. He really just wants to do his job and feed the otters, but the boss' son, Arthur, is intent upon distracting him with shameless flirting sessions. Arthur, meanwhile, would rather spend time with his boyfriend than do his job. If it weren't for their friends, Merlin and Arthur definitely would not be able to get through the day without catastrophe.aka Merlin pretends to find Arthur insufferable, Arthur just wants to kiss his boyfriend, and Leon, Lancelot, and Gwen definitely are not paid enough.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 155





	The Insufferable Arthur Pendragon

**Author's Note:**

> soo my friend had a dream last night that merlin and arthur worked together in an aquarium and when i asked her for details she said she didn't really remember it that well so...i uh...wrote a fic for it....at the suggestion of another friend. i also did this instead of writing the two essays i have due tomorrow but it was definitely worth it. (if you're thinking to yourself "hmm, was it rly worth it tho??" you're right and you should say it).
> 
> the stingray is named jesus because that was the first thing my friend said when i asked her for a name so we have her to thank for that.
> 
> anyway this is dedicated to my lovely lovely friends mia (who's subconscious manifested this fic by making her dream abt aquarium!au merthur last night) and tar (who is an enabler and told me she would time me while i wrote 1.5k words of fluffy aquarium!au instead of writing my essays (yes i went a bit over her proposed word count) but i mean if your friends aren't encouraging your questionable life choices are they rly even your friends??). i love you guyss <3
> 
> anYWAY, here we go! one very fluffy very flirty very cute aquarium!au coming right up :))

“ _Mer_ lin!”

There was a loud crash as Merlin slipped on the wet floor, dropping the bucket of fish he had been hauling from the back room to the otter sanctuary. Swearing, he attempted to stand up before the aquarium owner’s son made it around the corner, but it was to no avail. Fish, apparently, made wet floors especially slippery.

“Merlin,” Arthur laughed when he rounded the corner. He was attempting a smirk, but his utter delight at catching Merlin in yet another awkward position was impossible to conceal. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” Merlin grumbled, pushing himself up to collect the fish. “Going to feed the otters.”

“Are you?” Arthur grinned. “Because it _looks_ like you’re feeding the floors.”

“Well maybe if someone would _mop the floors_ on a regular basis, we wouldn’t have this issue,” Merlin replied.

“Mm, and who’s job would that be?” Arthur teased.

Merlin paused. “Arthur—that’s _your_ job.”

At this, Arthur frowned. “Is it?”

“Yes,” Merlin said, finally collecting the last of the fish and managing to pull himself to his feet without another disaster. “As an employer it’s your solemn duty to ensure a safe workplace environment and _wet floors_ —” Merlin gestured helpfully— “certainly don’t fulfill that requirement.”

“Is that so?” Arthur smiled, walking toward Merlin as he spoke. “Because _I_ seem to remember that, as an employee, it is your _solemn duty_ to help maintain a certain level of cleanliness in said workplace.”

Arthur stopped right in front of Merlin then, who was glad for the bucket of fish between them but took an extra step backward just for good measure, only to feel his back brush against the wall. Arthur smirked, leaning an arm on the wall beside Merlin, who cast around helplessly for a clever retort.

“Going somewhere?” Arthur asked. Despite the bucket between them, Arthur’s lips were tantalizingly close as he spoke. Smirking again, Arthur added, “ _Mer_ lin.”

_Oh, damn him._

“ _Actually,_ yes. I am going somewhere,” Merlin grinned. He lifted the bucket to his chest, forcing Arthur to take a step back. “I’m on my way to feed the otters, remember? Or had you forgotten?”

“I hadn’t forgotten,” Arthur said, and to Merlin’s annoyance, there was still the hint of a smirk in his stupid expression.

“Good!” Merlin exclaimed, pushing off the wall and moving past Arthur. “Because unlike you, some of us actually have to work for our salary!”

“Hey! I work for my salary!” Arthur exclaimed, moving to catch up with Merlin, who was already hurrying down the hallway.

Merlin turned to walk backwards as he continued down the hall (which, given the aforementioned wet floors, was extremely ill-advised). “Do you?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow. “Then what are you doing here?”

To Merlin’s delight, Arthur had to pause to think about that one. “I—I’m taking my break.”

“Your break?” Merlin repeated, a smile creeping to his lips.

“Yes, my break.”

“So there’s someone working the cash register in the gift shop right now?” Merlin teased.

“Yes,” Arthur said, clearly lying. “Leon is.”

“If only we all had the benefit of being the boss’ son,” Merlin said, but this particular jab lost some of its vigor when he slipped on the still very wet floors, causing Arthur to lunge forward to keep him from falling before the poor fish and their bucket were abused any more.

Needless to say, landing in Arthur’s arms was not how Merlin had planned for this particular conversation to end. _Gods,_ was Arthur insufferable.

“Luckily, though, some of them _do_ have the benefit of being the boss’ son’s boyfriend,” Arthur said. He hadn’t put Merlin properly to his feet yet, which meant that they looked to have been frozen in some sort of comical rendition of the tango in which a rose had been replaced for a bucket of fish. Thankfully, no one was around to witness it.

Or not.

At that moment, the door leading off to the otter exhibit opened, and Leon stepped in. Arthur hastily put Merlin to his feet then, which Merlin was certainly not at all disappointed by. Leon, for his part, had the decency to look utterly bewildered.

“Arthur!” he said first and, once Merlin was standing up straight, added, “Merlin! What are you doing?”

“We’re…” Arthur began. He turned to Merlin then. “What _are_ we doing, Merlin? You’re the one who dragged me here.”

Merlin could have killed him. _First he lies about having Leon take his place in the gift shop, then he blames his completely unauthorized break on me!_ “I _told_ you, I’m feeding the otters,” Merlin said it with a smile, but he was cursing Arthur internally.

“ _Ohh,_ you needed help feeding the otters,” Arthur said.

“Actually, I didn’t—”

“It’s really quite simple, Merlin, I don’t know why you have such trouble with it,” Arthur continued over Merlin. “But I can show you again, if you really need me to.”

“I really don’t,” Merlin said.

Arthur laughed. “That’s alright, Merlin, no need to be embarrassed now that Leon’s here. Everyone knows you’re a bit helpless. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Right, Leon?”

“I’m not—”

“Don’t worry about it, Merlin,” Leon smiled genuinely. “I’ve actually just fed the otters myself, so you don’t even need to.”

“You fed the otters?” Merlin said, admittedly a little disappointed.

“Yes,” Leon nodded. “I know you were supposed to next shift, but you were running a bit late so I just went ahead and did it.”

“Do you hear that Merlin!” Arthur said. “You don’t even have to feed the otters now.”

It took all of Merlin’s willpower not to dump the bucket of fish over Arthur’s head. “That’s great!” Merlin said. “I suppose I’ve got an early lunch break, then.”

“Spectacular!” Arthur agreed. “I’ll join you.”

“Actually,” Merlin said. “I’m supposed to meet Lancelot. But if you’re not doing anything, why don’t you take this—” he shoved the bucket of fish into Arthur’s unsuspecting arms. “And I’ll see you later!”

“You’re—Lancelot?” was all Arthur managed before Merlin was already making his way back down the hallway.

“Who’s working the gift shop?” Leon asked. Arthur sighed.

***

“He’s insufferable,” Merlin told Lancelot angrily through a bite of sandwich. They were taking their lunch break near the tide pools, and the early spring air was crisp against their faces.

Lancelot laughed.

“What?” Merlin demanded. “Don’t laugh at my misery!”

“ _Your_ misery?” Lancelot repeated. “Merlin, I don’t mean to minimize your problems, but while your very handsome boyfriend was sequestering you in the hallway, I was having to listen to a mom tell me that the soy hot chocolate I made her son was not, in fact, soy.”

“Okay, but at least you only had to deal with that woman today,” Merlin said. “I have to deal with Arthur every day.”

“I think you’re failing to grasp how truly awful working as a barista in an aquarium cafe is,” Lancelot replied.

“I can’t _believe_ he told Leon I have trouble feeding the otters!” Merlin said. “The otters are my favorite! And Leon’s my supervisor, technically, so now he’ll think I can’t do my job properly.”

“Have you met Leon?” Lancelot asked. “You could get away with more working for him than Arthur does working for his father.”

“Yeah, well,” Merlin said, taking a small bite of his sandwich. “Don’t tell Arthur that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” Merlin said, but when Lancelot continued to look at him, he sighed. “I _may_ have told Arthur that he doesn’t have to work as hard as everyone else because he’s Uther’s son.”

“Merlin!”

“Well it’s true!” Merlin exclaimed. “He could get away with murder here. He _has_ gotten away with murder here.”

“Merlin, for the last time, Jesus was like, a thousand years old,” Lancelot said. “Just because Arthur _happened_ to be working the shift when she died doesn’t mean he killed her.”

“Oh really? Then how come Uther’s been having him work the gift shop for the past six months?” Merlin asked. “And she wasn’t a thousand years old, she was 10, which is perfectly young enough for a stingray. She was in the prime of her life, and he robbed her of that.”

“Merlin.”

“What?”

“You have to apologize to him,” Lancelot said.

“Why?” Merlin asked.

“You know Arthur hates the fact that he works for Uther,” Lancelot said.

“He said I’m incapable of feeding the otters!”

“Merlin.”

“Okay, _fine_ ,” Merlin said. Then he grinned. “So tell me more about this soy hot chocolate.”

“Oh, _gods_ ,” Lancelot groaned, and he launched into a well-deserved rant of his own.

***

The aquarium gift shop just before closing time had its own special place in hell, in Merlin’s opinion, which was why he thought he deserved a _lot_ of credit for braving it rather than heading straight for his car when his shift ended. As a group of kids sprinted past him, chasing each other with what must have been every puppet in the shop, he scanned the crowded room for Arthur. He spotted him after a moment at the register, which was surprising only in that it was where Arthur was actually supposed to be. Merlin would have expected Arthur to look extremely haggard right now, given that he had a line of about fifteen last-minute shoppers and was attempting to carefully wrap up some sort of small glass sculpture while holding a conversation with a customer who Merlin suspected, from the description Lancelot had given, was the soy-hot-chocolate mom. But Arthur managed to look completely unworried, a cheerful, easy expression gracing his face. Merlin couldn’t help but pause to smile at the sight. 

“Merlin!” a delighted voice said from behind him, and Merlin startled. Turning, he saw Gwen, the other gift-shop employee, had come up behind him. She was holding what appeared to have once been a snowglobe, but was now several shards of glass, some glitter, and a plastic base.

“Gwen!” he replied happily. “What’s that?”

“Oh,” Gwen sighed, looking down at the remnants in her hands. “It used to be a snowglobe. I’ve no idea who broke it, which is just great, because it means I have no idea what kid’s parents I’m supposed to make pay for it.” She shook her head. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”

Merlin glanced over at the cash register. “Oh, I was just…”

Gwen smiled knowingly. “You know, we could use some help over at the register.”

“Oh, I suppose I could...help out,” Merlin nodded.

“Wonderful!” Gwen said. “Could you take this with you? I think I just saw a kid pocket _way_ too many keychains.”

Before he could respond, she had shoved the broken snow globe into his hands and was rushing off in the opposite direction of the register.

“...wonderful evening!” Arthur was saying cheerfully as Merlin slipped behind the counter in search of a trash bin for the unlucky snow globe Gwen had bestowed upon him.

“Behind you,” Merlin advised as he squeezed past Arthur, having spotted the bin on his other side.

“Wha—Merlin!” Arthur said, noticing Merlin for the first time. “What are you doing here?”

“Throwing away a snow globe, what does it look like I’m doing?” Merlin asked, dropping the glass shards into the trash. As he did so, however, one of the jagged edges caught his thumb, making a nasty gash along the side of it.

“You broke a snowglobe?” Arthur said, somehow managing at the same time to be holding a rather in-depth conversation with the customer he was checking out about the pros and cons of impulsive gift shop purchases. _How does he manage that?_ Merlin wondered as he hastily grabbed a tissue from the box sitting on the counter to cover his thumb.

“No! Gwen asked me to get rid of it,” Merlin replied. “And also to help you.”

“Help me?”

“Yes, apparently you’re as hopelessly inept at managing the register as I am at feeding the otters,” Merlin replied.

Arthur laughed, turning to glance at Merlin. When he caught sight of the (quickly reddening) napkin Merlin was holding over his thumb, however, he frowned.

“What happened?” he asked, reaching out, but Merlin cradled his hand closer to his chest.

“I may have cut myself on that snowglobe.”

“You really are helpless,” Arthur said, but there was a softness in his voice. “Where’s Gwen?”

“Right here,” Gwen said, as if summoned. “Our snow globe assassin strikes again. I’m just getting the broom.”

“That’s gonna have to wait,” Arthur said. “Can you manage the register for a bit?”

“Well, yes, but the glass—” Gwen began.

“It’s fine, just take over here for a moment, yeah?” Arthur said.

“Are you going to ring me up or not?” demanded the customer now at the front of the line.

“Yes, sorry, of course,” Gwen said, stepping to take Arthur’s place.

“Thanks Guinevere!” Arthur said over his shoulder as he guided Merlin around the counter, hand on the small of his back.

“You’d better buy me a life's supply of Lancelot's lattes for this!” Gwen called back, but her voice was kind.

“What are you doing?” Merlin asked finally as they exited the shop.

“ _We’re_ going to get you a bandaid,” Arthur said.

Merlin stopped walking. “Arthur.”

Arthur paused, hand still on Merlin’s back. “What?”

“Did you just _leave your job_ so you could get me a bandaid?”

“Well I couldn’t have you bleeding all over the customers, could I?”

“And you thought, ‘hey, rather than sending Merlin to go get a bandaid, I’ll _leave my job_ in an extremely busy gift shop and go get one for him.”

Arthur glanced around, then leaned toward Merlin to whisper, “I told you there’s benefits to being the boss’ son’s boyfriend.”

“Mhm, and what if the boss discovers that his son has left the gift shop in the middle of his shift?”

Arthur had to pause to think about that one too, and Merlin couldn’t help the smile that creeped onto his face. “Well, in that case, I’ll explain to him how there are benefits to being the boss’ son’s...best friend.”

Merlin laughed. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Doesn’t it?”

“Uther will definitely understand.”

Arthur grinned, and they continued their way toward the staffroom.

“Merlin!” Gwaine, who was in the staffroom with Elyan, exclaimed when he and Arthur entered. “What are you—what’s happened to your hand?”

“He was attacked by a vicious snow globe,” Arthur replied, going over to one of the cabinets and rummaging through it. “What are you two doing? Shouldn’t you be flirting with a pint of beer at this point in the night?”

“We _should_ ,” Gwaine agreed. “But we’re waiting for Merlin.”

“You are?”

“Well he said he needed to—” Gwaine began, but Elyan cut him off.

“I just remembered I forgot to check up on the penguins,” Elyan said. “Gwaine, will you help me?”

“I thought Leon was doing the penguins,” Gwaine said.

“No, _I_ actually was supposed to check on the penguins,” Elyan said. “Remember?”

“But— _oh!”_ Gwaine said, finally catching on. “Right! Of course! The penguins need...checking up on.”

They exited the room rather loudly, Elyan cursing Gwaine under his breath and Gwaine doing his best to keep himself from laughing (which was not the best). When the door closed behind them, Merlin, who was leaning against the small round table that sat in the room, glanced over at Arthur, who had a box of bandaids in his hand and a question on his face.

“They forgot to check up on the penguins,” Merlin said.

“It seems they did,” Arthur agreed, walking over to Merlin.

“I said I wanted to talk to you before we left,” Merlin explained.

Arthur nodded, taking Merlin’s hand in his own and removing the napkin. “Did you now?”

“I...wanted to apologize about earlier,” Merlin said as Arthur placed the bandage carefully over the cut on Merlin’s hand. “In the hallway. When I said you have it easier because you’re the boss’ son.”

Arthur looked at Merlin then, a bemused smile on his face. “Okay.”

“O _kay?”_

“I mean, I’m not sure why you’re apologizing,” Arthur said. “I insulted your otter-feeding skills in front of Leon.”

Merlin paused. “But...normally you hate it when people say stuff like that.”

“I hate it when other people say it and mean it,” Arthur said, reaching out to brush the hair out of Merlin’s eyes. “But when you say it…”

“What?”

“Well, it’s kind of cute,” Arthur admitted.

“It’s—what!” Merlin said. “I insulted you, how is that _cute_?”

Arthur, however, was currently leaning his head toward Merlin, a hand resting on the table on either side of him, and Merlin was finding it difficult to remember what he was acting so indignant over. “Do you really want me to explain it?” Arthur asked, close enough that Merlin could feel the ghost of his lips on his own. “Because I can think of a much better use of my lips right now.”

“I think that’s…” Merlin began, but trailed off and couldn’t find any reason to protest when Arthur finally closed the small gap between them. Merlin smiled into the kiss, reaching up to wrap his fingers around the back of Arthur’s neck and pull him closer.

“I’m going to kill Lancelot,” he murmured into Arthur’s lips as Arthur’s hands trailed from Merlin’s back to get lost in his hair.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed my little episode of self-indulgence! did anyone enjoy aquarium cafe barista lancelot as much as i did? because i...definitely enjoyed writing that scene WAY more than should be allowed.
> 
> anyway, thank you for reading! if you liked it, leave a comment!! i love to hear from you guys :))


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